Booting from an existing operating system is often a convenient option; for some systems it is the only supported method of installation.

To boot the installer from hard disk, you will have already completed downloading and placing the needed files in Section 4.4, “Preparing Files for Hard Disk Booting”.

In the Workbench, start the Linux installation process by double-clicking on the StartInstall icon in the debian directory.

You may have to press the Enter key twice after the Amiga installer program has output some debugging information into a window. After this, the screen will go grey, there will be a few seconds' delay. Next, a black screen with white text should come up, displaying all kinds of kernel debugging information. These messages may scroll by too fast for you to read, but that's OK. After a couple of seconds, the installation program should start automatically, so you can continue down at Chapter 6, Using the Debian Installer.

At the GEM desktop, start the Linux installation process by double-clicking on the bootstra.prg icon in the debian directory and clicking Ok at the program options dialog box.

You may have to press the Enter key after the Atari bootstrap program has output some debugging information into a window. After this, the screen will go grey, there will be a few seconds' delay. Next, a black screen with white text should come up, displaying all kinds of kernel debugging information. These messages may scroll by too fast for you to read, but that's OK. After a couple of seconds, the installation program should start automatically, so you can continue below at Chapter 6, Using the Debian Installer.

At the MacOS desktop, start the Linux installation process by double-clicking on the Penguin Prefs icon in the debian directory. The Penguin booter will start up. Go to the Settings item in the File menu, click the Kernel tab. Select the kernel (vmlinuz) and ramdisk (initrd.gz) images in the debian directory by clicking on the corresponding buttons in the upper right corner, and navigating the file select dialogs to locate the files. Close the Settings dialog, save the settings and start the bootstrap using the Boot Now item in the File menu.

The Penguin booter will output some debugging information into a window. After this, the screen will go grey, there will be a few seconds' delay. Next, a black screen with white text should come up, displaying all kinds of kernel debugging information. These messages may scroll by too fast for you to read, but that's OK. After a couple of seconds, the installation program should start automatically, so you can continue below at Chapter 6, Using the Debian Installer.

The easiest route for most people will be to use a set of Debian CDs. If you have a CD set, and if your machine supports booting directly off the CD, great! Simply insert your CD, reboot, and proceed to the next chapter.

Note that certain CD drives may require special drivers, and thus be inaccessible in the early installation stages. If it turns out the standard way of booting off a CD doesn't work for your hardware, revisit this chapter and read about alternate kernels and installation methods which may work for you.

Even if you cannot boot from CD-ROM, you can probably install the Debian system components and any packages you want from CD-ROM. Simply boot using a different media, such as floppies. When it's time to install the operating system, base system, and any additional packages, point the installation system at the CD-ROM drive.

If you have problems booting, see Section 5.3, “Troubleshooting the Install Process”.

Currently, the only Motorola 680x0 subarchitecture that supports CD-ROM booting is the BVME6000. The easiest route In that case will be to use a set of Debian CDs. Simply insert your CD, reboot, and proceed to the next chapter.

Booting from the network requires that you have a network connection and a TFTP network boot server (DHCP, RARP, or BOOTP).

The installation method to support network booting is described in Section 4.5, “Preparing Files for TFTP Net Booting”.

After booting the VMEbus systems you will be presented with the LILO Boot: prompt. At that prompt enter one of the following to boot Linux and begin installation proper of the Debian software using vt102 terminal emulation:

You may additionally append the string

TERM=vt100

to use vt100 terminal emulation, e.g.,

i6000 TERM=vt100 Enter

.

For most m68k architectures, booting from a local filesystem is the recommended method.

Booting from the boot floppy is supported only for Atari and VME (with a SCSI floppy drive on VME) at this time.

In the case of Macintosh, you must retain the original Mac system and boot from it. It is essential that, when booting MacOS in preparation for booting the Penguin linux loader, you must hold the shift key down to prevent extensions from loading. If you don't use MacOS except for loading linux, you can accomplish the same thing by removing all extensions and control panels from the Mac's System Folder. Otherwise extensions may be left running and cause random problems with the running linux kernel.

In the Penguin boot program, choose File -> Settings..., then switch to the Options tab. Boot parameters may be typed in to the text entry area. If you will always want to use these settings, select File -> Save Settings as Default.